Supply Chain Management within the Healthcare Sector

The main elements of a supply chain include purchasing, operations, distribution, and integration. The supply chain begins with purchasing. Purchasing managers or buyers are typically responsible for determining which products their company will sell, sourcing product suppliers and vendors, and procuring products from vendors at prices and terms that meets profitability goals.

Westminster Company is a giant Global manufacturer of health products whose brand has been recognized by the world. As the company they have three different operations which produce and distribute different product lines. Their main strategy on which they are working and which is a major success for them is decentralized management. Now they are re-evaluating their traditional supply chain strategy because the company is getting too much pressure from their large domestic’s customers and global customers. Now the company has to study on

Supply chains manage the movement of products from the acquisition of raw materials through production and finally distribution to the end user. A properly designed supply chain can create many opportunities to drive down cost and increase revenue opportunities. In order to create a supply chain that is sustainable and flexible it is necessary to identify and align company goals and initiatives with the manufacturing and distribution of products.

The global data standard which uniquely recognizes the locations and products is been developed by GS1 in order to streamline the processes and improvise operative inefficiencies within the healthcare supply chain. These standards are created by healthcare industry itself, and are designed to address the challenges within the industry by giving a single, rich and global repository of precise and updated information which can be utilized by the stakeholders of the healthcare supply chain in order to simplify inventory management. All of these data standards exist in in a Global Location Number (GLN) registry, which is a global directory for entire the GS1 data standards in supply chain. Stakeholders of the supply chain such as providers, distributors,

Westminster Company has a long, rich tradition of being one of the biggest healthcare supply businesses in the world. They developed from a simple pharmacy supplier into an expanded, diverse variety of healthcare products to satisfy customer requirements. Westminster has operated in the United States (US) as three separate entities under one company that differ in location, size, and products produced. These three entities are individually operated and have no centralized management. In recent years, Westminster has observed the changing market and competition related to supply chains. In response, Westminster has conducted surveys and research over the past couple months that found some of the major issues that need to be addressed, to better serve their customers. As a result, they have sought solutions to adapt to these necessities in order to remain a solvent, competitive organization. The customers that make up the largest portion of sales (80/20 rule) are the mass merchants. These mass merchants are expected to continue growing during the upcoming decades. Therefore, it is imperative for Westminster Co. to ensure that they are able to properly serve the mass merchants’ requirements, while still being able to maintain customer requirements of non-mass merchants. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Westminster’s current traditional supply chain practices and integrate solutions that will target efficient use of company resources while building stronger

According to the article Healthcare Supply Chain Management Market by Product, Delivery Mode & End User - Global Forecast to 2019, The cost associated with implementing an inventory management system will require healthcare programs to cut back on production lead times and force distributors and other healthcare facilities to carry small amount of inventory. These factors can also increase the healthcare cost in the United States and change the laws and regulations to import these products. Some challenges faced by healthcare supply chains are the inaccuracy of products being imported and the like hood of these products being contrabands. However, developing and inventory management system can help millions of Americans have access to better

Through a review of literature, problems have been identified in the current supply chain activities in the health care industry, impacting on the overall efficiency in the medical sector. Although the success of SCM in manufacturing industry sectors in our economy has been commended through several sources (Stevenson, 2007; Youngdahl, 2000; Gryna, 2001), it has also been frequently pointed out, by many academics, that the current application of SCM in the health care sector is extremely poor. In contrast to other manufacturing logistical structures, the health care industry is not effectively utilizing the benefits that could be derived from establishing an effective SCM (Rai, Patnayakuni, & Seth, 2006; Sing, 2006; Long, 2005).

Operating room supplies are a variable cost. Supplies are a variable, supplies refer to the necessary supplies required to perform the procedure or service. Managers must be aware of supplies on hand and every organization must have a process in place that informs the purchasing agent or department when supplies are low and need to be ordered. There are many software systems that are available to assist in the tracking process. This is often referred to as supply chain management. The ultimate goal of supply chain management is to reduce inventory assuming that the products will be readily available when needed. Supplies in a facility that performs elective surgeries will vary due to the case volume, therefore supplies are considered a variable costs. The operating room manager would be involved in notifying the purchasing manager of a special supply that the physicians are requesting. The purchasing manager would be responsible for negotiating the best possible pricing. Another variable cost would be patient meals. The number of meals depends on the patient

The companies in this group provide the medical supplies needed to provide care to the end users. They are located at the top of the supply chain because their products are necessary for the existence of the other players. In fact, innovation in the industry is reliant on their output (source). Suppliers are powerful because they set the prices. There are many companies in this classification and a large number of them sell a wide variety of products in the market.

Many companies produce products from parts of raw materials that are purchased from suppliers, till these products are reach the markets and presented for the customers, then you have the supply chain starting from the purchase of raw material from different areas , through the manufacturing steps and stages till is being sold by the consumer. Some of supply chains are well defined and easy to determined, while there are other supply chains complex to analyze. However, supply chains vary with the size of the facility such as; complexities, performance, abilities, flexibility, quality, speed, dependability and cost of preparing goods for manufacturing and the chain length distribution. So the supply chain is a network of wholesalers, retailers, distributors, workers in the transport, storage facilities, suppliers, and manufacturers who participate in the production, delivery and sale of the product to the last consumer. A supply chain is a group of facilities that coordinate activities among it and to avoid the competitors. Moreover, to ensure the supply chain management is operating efficiently and generating the highest level of customer

Supply chains represent the procurement, production and distribution activities of an organisation. Within a supply chain, these activities are viewed as linked and reliant on one another to produce the final outcome. It is believed that if one component of the chain fails, the whole chain is broken and product/service delivery goals will not be achieved.

Case studies and related articles: studies, white papers, and published dissertations with a specific focus on the healthcare supply chain;

Supply Chain Management involves the process of managing, monitoring, controlling and constantly coordinating supply related activities among manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailer and the consumers. All this is done while integrating supply management with demand management, not only within but also across companies. Since all the processes involved in managing supply chain activities require a robust system in place, every company turns to technology for efficient and effective synchronization and smooth deployment of processes along with careful alignment of resources for timely completion of supply related activities.

This white paper focuses on how hospital and Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) can manage their inbound supply chain management to reduce unnecessary costs and increase efficiences that can significantly improve their

Supply chain management refers to management of the movement of goods and services from one point to another. It also involves storage and flow of raw materials and manufactured products from the point of production to the point of consumption. There are several concepts and theories in the field of supply chain management. This paper seeks to explore various theories and concepts of supply chain management and how such theories impact various industries.